Internal combustion engines



July 10, 1962 s. VlTALE 3, 3,

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed May 12, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 FIG! IN V EN TOR. .5144 v4 rues W74;

July 10, 1962 s. VlTALE 3,

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed May 12, 1959 s Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

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INVENTOR. 5'41 waive; W744:

July 1962 s. VITALE 3,043,283

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed May 12, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG.4

1 N VEN TOR. 5244 v4 70186 {4741:

3 043,283 INTERNAL coivmUsrIoN ENGINES Salvatore Vitale, Jack G. Di Prima, 109 Broad St., New York 4, NY. Filed May 12, 1e59, S81. No. 812,767 4 Claims. (31. 12356) This invention relates generally to internal combustion engines, and more particularly to engines operating either as gasoline or diesel engines.

It is known that internal combustion engines operating on the principles of the Otto or the diesel process require characteristic parts for their operation, such as camshafts, cam-controlled intake and exhaust valves with springs, balancing levers, more or less heavy flywheels, etc. Therefore, these engines, also known as four-cycle engines, are relatively complicated in their construction and manufacture, are relatively expensive to produce and require a great deal of maintenance in order to keep them in proper operating condition.

Two-cycle engines also are known, but their method of operation either requires heavy and large engine parts, such as special compressors or scavenger pumps, or leaves certain functions more or less undone resulting in a lesser degree of efficiency.

The present invention contemplates a considerable improvement in these types of internal combustion engines and provides means rendering the possibility of applying the principle of the invention to multi-cylinder power plants.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide means contributing to the production of internal combustion engines in a relatively simple and efiicacious manner.

It is another object of the present invention to provide means redounding to a highly efficacious construction of internal combustion engines which are relatively simple and utilize a minimumnumber of operable elements.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide means devising an improved and highly economical internal combustion engine which operates efliciently I and delivers a higher rate of output than heretofore attained.

It is still another object of this invention to provide means envisioning compression of a driving fluid medium to be efiectuated in an eflicient manner before said medium enters the working cylinders of an internal combustion engine.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide means ensuring stepwise compression of the driving fluid prior to being admitted to the working cylinder of the engine, where it also fulfills the purpose of scavenging burnt or exhaust gases before it is finally compressed in said working cylinder.

Another object of the invention is to provide means conducive to an engine that can be economically produced, can be easily maintained, and has less operating friction engendering elements which could otherwise become a source of disturbances during operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious 3,643,233 Patented July 10, 1952 will be identified by specific terms for convenience, but such terms are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit. Like reference characters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a horizontally arranged four-cylinder engine embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a vertically arranged twocylinder engine;

FIG. 3 is a schematic section of the cylinder combination for one working cylinder according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a horizontally arranged four-cylinder engine with opposing pistons and arranged in a single block.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawings, there are disclosed in FIG. 1 two blocks or housings 11, 11, each of which comprises as a unit two radially extending working or combustion cylinders 12, 12, two compressor cylinders 13, 13' adjacent said working cylinders 12, 12' and two auxiliary or control cylinders 14, 14 adjacent the compressor cylinders 13, 13'. Slidably supported by and operating in these cylinders are working pistons 15,

15', compression pistons 16, 16' and auxiliary or control pistons 17, 17'.

Extending longitudinally of said blocks or housings is a crank shaft 18 having a corresponding plurality of cranks 19, to which said pistons, 15, 16, 17 and 15, 15', 17 are operatively connected by means of connecting rods 20, 21, 22 and 20', 21', 22. The working pistons 15, 15' and the compression pistons 16, 16' are connected to the same crank, whereas pistons 16, 16 and 16, 16 are connected to the opposed crank; in other words, on the same side of the opposed-cylinder type of the engine according to the invention, the working piston and the compression piston are opposed to another, whereas the working cylinder on one side and the compression cylinder on the other side of the crankshaft 18 are equally 180 opposed to one another in phase.

All working cylinders in this multi-cylinder engine are operating in synchronism and are fired at the same time. The blocks or housings 11, 11' have water-cooling jackets 23, 23', all moving parts are lubricated in the conventional way.

The blocks or housings 11, 11' are further provided with exhaust ports or outlets 24, 24', arranged in the walls of said blocks and in register with each one of their respective adjacent working cylinders 12, 12' and their pistons 15, 15', thus defining a passageway for removing burnt gases contained in said working cylinders toward the end of the operating or working stroke of said pistons 15, 15'.

On the opposite side of said blocks 11, 11 and in the walls of said auxiliary or control cylinders 14, 14 are intake or inlet ports 25, 25' arranged in such way that said auxiliary or valve pistons 17, 17' may selectively open and close said intake ports in timed relation to the movement of the compressor pistons 16, 16' and working pistons 15, 15.

Inside the blocks or housings 11, 11' and in the area between the working cylinders 12, 12 and the compression cylinders 13, 13', there are laterally extending channels 26, 2-6 which communicate with radially extending passageways 27, 27' which terminate in the walls of the Working cylinders 12, 12'. Disposed between the auxiliary or valve cylinders 14, 14' and the compressor cylinders 13, 13' are openings or ports 28, 28' which permit the access of the driving fluid received through inlet or intake ports 25, 25' of the auxiliary or valve cylinders '14, 14 to the compressor cylinders 13, 13'.

Thus, it will be clearly apparent, that the driving fluid when contained in said compressor cylinder, will be forced under pressure through channels 26, 26 and a 3 r passageways 7, 27 into the working cylinders 12, i2, Whenthe compression pistons 16, 16 are operating on their compression stroke. The timing of the auxiliary or. control pistons .17 17 and the arrangement of the respective openings or -ports 25, "25 and 28, 28 is so chosen that a return flow *of the driving fluid during and after 'thecompression stroke cfthe compression pistons is'prevented. V

vThe term driving fluid has been used as a generic term, and refers tothe conventional air-fuel mixture in thecase of a gasoline-type engine, and to air in a dieseltype engine. It is further to be understood that the positioning of the inlet or intake :ports -2,'f25', openings or-ports 23, '28 between auxiliary and compressor cylinders, passageways 27, 27 and outlet or exhaust ports 24, 24 are positioned in such-way with respect to the movements of the pistons 15, 16, 1'7 and 15, 16, 17' that they: are opened and closed by their cooperating 'pistons 'at the proper time during the operation of the engine.

FIG. .Zshows a two-cylinder enginewherein-the two operating units comprising a working cylinder 12", a

5 While the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to certain particular preferred examples ing'having walls defining a power cylinder, a compression port defined in the upper portion of said control cylinder compressor cylinder 13 and an auxiliary cylinder 14" r .are contained in one block or housing '31. FIG. 3

explains schematically in more detail the operation of the. three pistons and cylinders'of'one operating unit,

- using the same reference numerals as applied in FIG. 1.

16. 4 depicts another version of the engine arrange- :ment of FIG. 1, duplicating the arrangement shown in FIGQZ, except for the phase difference of 90 in the crank shaft 18". One half of the cranks l9areofiset by 90 with respect to the other half of the cranks 19f, sothat the operation of the engine and the output torque of the crankshaft becomes more even and balanced.

Operation The driving fluid which may be air or an air-fuel mixture, as previously detailed, enters the respective auxiliary cylinders 14, when the auxiliary or control pistons '17 move'down towards'bottorn dead center (BDQ) thereby opening inlet or intake port 25. Aethe below said compression port, ;a crank shaft rotatably mounted in said housing, power, compression and control pistons connected to said'crank shaft and reciprocatable in said power, compression and control cylinders, respectively, said power cylinder being connected to said crank shaft to move downwardly under the ,force of combustion workingcylinder'lZ is near bottom dead center, and

hence, in position to receive the thus compressed fluid *medium at opening '27a through the intermediary of channel means 26 and radial passageways 27 which converge at27zz and 'are'now in their open position. 7

The working piston 15 thereafter moves towards top dead center, shuts off opening 27a and further compresses the driving ifluid contained in the working cylinder 12, When the driving medium is thus compressed, and assuming that'said medium is an air-fuel mixture as employed of a 'fluid'charge in the upper portion'of said power cylinder while said compressionpiston is connected to said crank shaft to move upwardly at the same time and said .first said compression port 'of said second conduit and thereafter said inlet port and thereby communicate said compression cylinder 'with the upper portion of said control cylinder and with said inlet port as said com- ,pression piston is moved downwardly in said compression cylinder, said control piston being movable upwardly tosfirst coversaid inlet port and thereafter'said compression port. V

2. An internal combustion engine accordingto claim-1, wherein said housing includes a separatesecond power, compression and control cylinder and piston disposed substantially 180 away from said firstsetfsaid power,

compression and control' piston of said second .set being connected to said crank at 180" out of phase'fi'om'the respective power, compression and control cylinders of I said first set.

' in a gasoline-type engine, the ignition system closes a spark plug circuit (not shown) to produce a spark so that the compressed mixture ignites. i

The combustion of said mixture and its resultant expansion, force said working piston towards the bottom dead center thereby imparting rotational movement to the crank shaft 18, while toward the end of its stroke, the exhaust ports 24 are opened in order to clear the burnt gases from the working cylinder. If said engine is operating on the diesel principle, fuel is injected directly into the working cylinder near the end of the compression stroke in a well known manner. This operation occurs In each of the respective auxiliary, compressor and working cylinders in accordance with the rotational movement of the crank shaft 18. p

This application is a continuation-in-part application of my cO pending application, Ser. No. 610,184, filed September 17, 1956, now abandoned.

13. An internal combustion engine according" to claim 1,

wherein saidcontrol piston is a solid'piston.

4. 'An internalcombustion engine accordingtoclaiml, wherein said housing means. includes a second set of power, compression and control cylinders defined substantially in alignment with saidfirst set and including second power, compression and'control pistons reciprocatable 1n sald respective second power, compression and control cylinders and connected to said crank case for operation of'respectivepistons in phase. 7

References Cited in thefileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS France Sept. 20, 1950 

